Turkish Airlines announced the launch of regular flights between Istanbul and Tivat. In a statement, the company said: «Our board of directors has decided to launch flights to Tivat in Montenegro and Bergamo in Italy, depending on market conditions».
As previously reported EX-YU Aviation News, the carrier is most likely to start four weekly flights to the coastal city. Montenegro’s national airline Air Montenegro, which itself operates seasonal flights between Istanbul and Tivat and plans to increase the number of flights this summer, strongly opposes Turkish Airlines’ plans and has asked the local regulator not to grant permission to its Turkish counterpart.
Elsewhere in the region, Turkish Airlines has increased the number of flights to Belgrade since yesterday, where it maintains three daily flights: every morning, afternoon, and evening. As a result, the company has added seven more weekly flights to the Serbian capital.
In Sarajevo, the airline is increasing the number of flights to twenty per week this summer, which is just one less than in 2019. It maintains two daily flights from Istanbul to Podgorica, Pristina, Skopje, and Zagreb, as well as ten weekly flights to Ljubljana. In Dubrovnik, Turkish Airlines’ flight frequency will increase from the current two flights per week to seven weekly flights during the peak summer months.
Turkish Airlines’ lower-cost division, AnadoluJet, will also operate a number of flights to the former Yugoslavia this summer. It will continue to maintain two weekly flights from Ankara to Belgrade, launched in winter, and since yesterday has restored three weekly flights between Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport and Pristina, while two weekly flights from Bodrum will resume on June 18. In addition, it will resume flights from Antalya to Sarajevo and Skopje on April 28 and May 1, respectively. Flights to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina will operate up to nine times a week, and to Skopje up to eleven times a week. AnadoluJet will also serve two capitals from Bodrum twice a week, starting May 12.